Carlsbad Caves, New Mexico
by A. J. Reynolds
Just before Christmas 1964 the Technical Director of the firm for which I work asked me to go to the United States for about six weeks. I discussed the programme with the Chairman, who suggested that I should first make the plan upon what I wanted to see and then arrange the business appointments. Unfortunately the Rockies contain very little industry of the type I was interested in, so I had to be content with visits to the less attractive areas.
My first week end was spent in New York, and the second in New Orleans. I am sure that the readers of this Journal would not be interested in the night life of these two cities nor in the adventures that a solitary member of the Y.R.C. can get up to in moments of weakness. I shall therefore pass quickly on to the third week end and a visit to New Mexico and the wonderful desert country around Carlsbad. Fortunately there was a large petro-chemical plant at Odessa in Texas about 200 miles from Carlsbad and I was able to arrange an appointment for the following Monday morning.
On Friday night I caught a Dakota of Trans-Texas Airways and three stops later got off at Odessa. I was up early on Saturday and after a Texas breakfast, steak, chops and waffles, I drove through the oilfields into the desert and across to Carlsbad. Even with a speed limit of 65 m.p.h. it was possible to get to Carlsbad in under three and a half hours because the roads were straight and almost deserted.
After lunch in Carlsbad I drove to the Cavern, which is about 30 miles from the town. The caves lie in the National Park and the road goes along Walnut Canyon rising steeply at the end to climb on to the top of the hill. Although it was only mid-March the temperature was over 80°F. with cloudless skies and bright sunshine.
Around the entrance are the Museum, Restaurant, Souvenir Shop, Ranger houses and workshops. I bought a ticket for $1.50 and joined the second party of the day waiting to go through the caves. By the time we started about 150 people of all ages had collected and, led by three Rangers, we were trooped down into the cave entrance. At the start we were warned of the intense cold inside (55°F. constant), of the hardships of walking for three hours and of the fact that there is only one way out. One Ranger in front, one in the middle and one bringing up the rear, we pressed on down a zigzag path into the enormous cave entrance, 150 ft. by 100 ft.; this is filled with millions of bats during the summer evenings.
Down we went for about 400 ft. into the Main Chamber and almost immediately large formations began to appear. The first one, called “The Devil’s Spring”, did not look like Old Nick to me but there was a resemblance to certain Y.R.C. members. This was just the start of thousands of formations in the main areas around the cave walk and the “Devil” was closely followed by “The Whale’s Mouth”, lit beautifully from the inside. Past this to the “Baby Hippo”, again Y.R.C. members came to mind, and on to the “Veiled Statue”. This is a forty foot column looking very much like a sculptured statue with a cloth draped over the head. Along the path for some way and we came to the “Green Lake”; this is a small pool, only eight feet deep but so green that it looks artificial.
Now the formations start to come thick and fast. A frozen waterfall spouting out of a small aven some forty feet up in the air, lily pads where pools have dried out and a small stalagmite called “The Bashful Elephant”. All this leads down to the lowest part of the system, “The King’s Highway”, 829 ft. below the surface. This path is festooned with stalactites, stalagmites and coral like growths; after 20 yards it opens out into the “King’s Chamber” where there are literally thousands upon thousands of formations with colours from white through yellow to red. The moist remarkable sight, only shown to a few, is an eight foot long straw hidden amongst the many others hanging from the ceiling. Between the “King’s Chamber” and the “Queen’s Chamber” is an enormous twin stalagmite called “The Frustrated Lovers” because the two columns are separated by a fraction of an inch. Past the Lovers is the “Queen’s Walkway” where the bearded king sits on his throne looking into the “Queen’s Chamber”; a smaller chamber but full of interest because of the vast growth of helictites on the ceiling and walls.
A further 1,000 feet on and we had seen the Papoose Room, full of small formations, drapes galore, and a section of broken stalactites, leading into “Titan’s Castle” and then, round a corner, lo and behold, into the Lunch Room. This is a large cave with no formations at all, only counters, food stalls, candy shops and seating for one thousand people. This is the half way stage in the tour and the best is yet to come.
After a few small areas of formations we came to an enormous stalactite 50 feet high called “Rock of Ages”. This is the gate-post to the “Big Room”, a quite fantastic chamber some 2,000 ft. long and about 1,000 ft. across the T section of the cave. The path takes the outside wall of this cave and returns to the waiting room for the trip to the surface. The Big Room is all formations, millions of them; so many that it is impossible to take them all in, they say that even the guides see different things every time they go round. Next come pagoda shaped formations, the largest active formation in the cave called “Crystal Spring”, Dome Castles, Mirror Lake, a 200 ft. pit, a green frozen waterfall all coloured with algae from the surface. The “Totem Pole” sticks out in my memory, 4 feet high, 12 inches in diameter from top to bottom and quite a lot out of the vertical. This is close to the “Cave Man” looking very much like Rodin’s “The Thinker” to me. Just around the next corner is “The Breast of Venus”; Venus must have been a big girl, but of course this is very near Texas where everything is big.
A large coral-like stalagmite made everyone stop for some time but the Rangers kept us moving to get round the caves inside three hours. The “Temple of the Sun” is another enormous formation with a decided yellow colouration, it stands some 40 feet high and possibly 6 feet in diameter at its widest point. “Fairyland” follows, a section with thousands of small, very pretty formations, then on a few yards to the last and most impressive part of the cave, the “Giant Dome” and the “Twin Domes”. The first is 62 feet high and 16 feet in diameter, it is a full column stretching from floor to ceiling and gives the impression of a many tiered waterfall made from icing sugar. Although generally dry, it is occasionally found to be damp as water seeps in from the surface. Standing right behind this column are the two domes, only slightly smaller than the column; the three make an inspiring sight as they stand on the top of a mound covered in white crystals.
This is the end underground, but looking back down the Big Room it was possible to see, stretching into the distance, a procession of these enormous stalagmites fully fitting their description as the “Hall of Giants”. To get to the surface 700 feet above us was the easiest part of the whole trip; twin lifts took 150 people up within ten minutes. Why not a project for Gaping Gill on these lines? I thought at that moment of long ladders, winches and buckets, waterfalls, wetness, cold, late-at-nightness and realised potholing was never like this.